"The deliberate disregard for internal controls along with little oversight and poorly-trained staff resulted in improper payouts to Parks employees," Controller John Chiang said. "When security protocols and authorization requirements so easily can be overridden, it invites the abuse of public funds."

The review looked at the department’s payroll from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012 and found that management avoided rules and regulations regarding employees considered working out-of-class without receiving proper approval and providing necessary documentation.

The Controller’s auditors were unable to determine if any of the out-of-class payments to more than 200 employees, which totaled $520,000, were lawful because of the lack of proper documentation.

KCRA 3 asked the State Parks and Recreation Department how something like this could happen.

"I think there were just lax controls and in some cases people ignored policy that was in place," said Roy Stearns, a spokesman for the department. "There's a whole new executive team in place to make sure this doesn't happen again. But beyond that there are procedures and safeguards and new rules and policies put in place to make sure this doesn't happen again."

The review also found that 90 percent of unauthorized leave “buy-backs”, where employees were paid cash value for accrued vacation or other leave time, were approved by two department managers.

The Controller’s office said they are recommending that the Department of Parks and Recreation create a system that would alert management when an employee is near the maximum number of hours per year that they can work.

"I don't feel it's right," said David Walters, a visitor from Modesto spotted at Sutter's Fort State Park in Sacramento. "It's a shame because we need things like this for heritage to bring our kids here."

"They do need to look at it and see what's going on," said Johanna Kyser, a fourth-grade teacher from Woodland. "But I have a lot of trust in our state park system."

The Controller is also calling on the department’s new management team to get reimbursement payments from employees who received compensation that they weren’t lawfully entitled to receive.